MusM in Music (Performance Studies)
Manchester, United Kingdom
Master degree
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
05 Jul 2026*
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
TUITION FEES
GBP 28,400 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* due to high demand for this course, we operate a staged admissions process with multiple selection deadlines throughout the year, to maintain a fair and transparent approach
** international students full-time fees
Key Summary
Creatively engage in advanced performance, and develop advanced critical awareness of the art of musical performance from a variety of perspectives.
Course Overview
- Develop the skills and knowledge to forge personally satisfying and socially impactful portfolio careers as performing artists, educators, entrepreneurs, and researchers.
- Develop an advanced understanding of the interpretation of music through analysis, historical research, cultural critique, and performance.
- Study in a city that is home to more professional music-making than any UK city outside of London, with three professional orchestras and internationally recognised institutions such as the BBC and Opera North.
- Engage in cutting-edge artistic research in music performance.
- Ranked sixth in the UK for Music and Drama by Complete University Guide 2026.
Each year the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures offer a number of school awards and subject-specific bursaries (the values of which are usually set at the Home/EU fees level), open to both Home/EU and international students. The deadline for these is early February each year. Details of all funding opportunities, including deadlines, eligibility and how to apply, can be found on the School's funding page where you can also find details of the Government Postgraduate Loan Scheme.
For the University of Manchester graduates, the Manchester Alumni Bursary offers a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees to the University of Manchester alumni who achieved a First within the last three years and are progressing to a postgraduate taught master's course. The Manchester Master's Bursary is a University-wide scheme that offers 100 bursaries worth £3,000 in funding for students from underrepresented groups.
The MusM Music (Performance) course will prepare you for a portfolio career in music performance in the rapidly diversifying post-pandemic music making scene. You will develop an advanced understanding of the interpretation of music and technical expertise, whether through analysis, historical research, cultural critique, artistic research or performance. You will develop as multifaceted musicians with pedagogical and professional skills, and also have the opportunity to engage in community music performance practices as socially conscious artists.
You will be able to choose units that best match your special interests and aspirations. Seminars allow for close collaboration between lecturers and students, with ample opportunity for you to present your own work and receive individual feedback. Discussion and debate form an important part of most course units.
Most taught course units are delivered via weekly seminars and/or tutorials. Full-time students take two 30-credit course units or equivalent per semester; part-time students take one.
Seminars feature a range of presentation formats and activities, including presentations by course tutors, student presentations, discussion and debate based on prepared reading or coursework tasks, and workshop-style activities.
Members of the academic staff are also available for individual consultations during designated office hours.
Alongside your taught units, you will have access to a range of non-assessed seminars, workshops and training sessions offered by the Graduate School.
All postgraduate students are expected to undertake their own programme of self-directed learning and skills acquisition. This may also involve wider reading, language work, computer training and attendance at research seminars in other parts of the University.
Special features
Music in Manchester
Manchester is home to more professional music-making than any UK city outside of London. There are three professional orchestras, as well as internationally recognised institutions such as the BBC, Bridgewater Hall, Opera North and The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
Cultural Manchester
Manchester is increasingly becoming one of the UK's most important cultural hotspots. Now positioned as the engine room for the Northern Powerhouse, the city is benefiting from massive investment in its cultural infrastructure such as MediaCityUK, the award-winning Whitworth and HOME.
Department of Music
The Department of Music in Manchester aspires to provide music performance students at the graduate level with cutting-edge opportunities to develop portfolio careers as performing artists, educators, entrepreneurs, researchers, community leaders and public scholars, combining these roles in flexible and individual ways.
Performance
Staging over one hundred live music events each year, the Music department is unique in its combination of academic excellence and conservatoire levels of performance.
Teaching and learning
Most taught course units are delivered via weekly seminars and/or tutorials. Full-time students take two 30-credit course units or equivalent per semester; part-time students take one.
Seminars feature a range of presentation formats and activities, including presentations by course tutors, student presentations, discussion and debate based on prepared reading or coursework tasks, and workshop-style activities.
Members of the academic staff are also available for individual consultations during designated office hours.
Alongside your taught units, you will have access to a range of non-assessed seminars, workshops and training sessions offered by the Graduate School.
All postgraduate students are expected to undertake their own programme of self-directed learning and skills acquisition. This may also involve wider reading, language work, computer training and attendance at research seminars in other parts of the University.
Coursework and assessment
There are no formal written examinations. Taught course units are assessed by coursework essays or other tasks, normally submitted at the end of each semester (January and May).
The precise nature of the assessment varies according to what is appropriate to the course unit in question. In most cases, a choice of questions or topics is offered. All taught units must be satisfactorily completed.
The Performance Portfolio assesses a range of performance work. It includes a Performance Project that may consist of ensemble performance, accompanying, community music-making, conducting or practical pedagogy.
Course unit details
You will undertake units totalling 180 credits. Core and optional units combine to make 120 credits, with the remaining 60 credits allocated to a performance portfolio.
The dissertation or critical edition offers the opportunity to work with world-leading experts in a range of specialist areas.
Core Units:
- Advanced Music Studies: Research Skills in the Digital Age (15 credits)
- Researching Performance: Issues and Approaches (15 credits)
- Professional and Pedagogical Skills (30 credits)
- Performance Project (30 credits)
- Recital (60 credits)
Optional units:
- Historical or Contemporary Performance (30 credits)
- Historical and Editorial Skills (30 credits)
- Advanced Analysis (15 credits)
- Aesthetics (15 credits)
- Contemporary Music Studies (30 credits)
- Advanced Orchestration (30 credits)
- Business Strategies for the Arts (30 credits)
- Popular Music and Identity (30 credits)
Optional units build on the knowledge and understanding you have gained in Semester 1, and enable you to develop expertise in a particular disciplinary area.
Full-time students take 60 credits of optional course units. Part-time students take 30 credits of optional course units each year.
Our graduates have pursued successful careers in musical and non-musical fields. Some continue to further study via a PhD before securing an academic position. Some go on to teach in schools or further education, both in the UK and overseas.
Other areas of work for which advanced musical training has been directly relevant include arts management and the culture industries, producing, music publishing, music, journalism, librarianship, music therapy and performance.
Careers outside of music have included accountancy, law, social work and human resources.
Some graduates have gone on to work for companies that include The Old Vic, NHS, Orchestras Live, and the BBC.
The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability .